#ANC54: Registration for conference slow, says Duarte

Johannesburg - The registration of delegates for the African National Congress' (ANC) 54th National Conference where new leaders will be elected was moving very slowing and was unlikely to be completed on Friday, the ruling party's deputy secretary-general, Jessie Duarte, said.

As many as 6 000 delegates are expected to attend the five-day conference, which opens on Saturday. It will be held at Nasrec, but registration is taking place at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Soweto campus.

Duarte said the registration process was "thorough" and delegates who were pre-registered at their branches were expected to produce identity documents to ensure that only those who qualify attend the conference.

By late evening long queues of ANC members dressed mostly in yellow party t-shirts could be seen at the UJ campus.

She said owing to the slow pace of registration it was likely the process would only be completed on Saturday.